2 Hurt In Swift Brevard Brush Fire

MELBOURNE — A fast-moving brush fire skipped through a half-mile-wide section of woods in south Brevard County on Tuesday, hurting two firefighters and briefly stranding a state forester.

The blaze traveled a mile and a half through the dry woods in 20 minutes.

No buildings were damaged and the blaze was brought under control by late afternoon.

The fire was the seventh this year in a largely undeveloped area between Melbourne and Palm Bay and fire officials suspect arson.

It began about 100 yards into the woods south of Melbourne shortly after 1 p.m. and burned west, county fire Lt. Scott Lunden said.

Seventeen firefighting units from Palm Bay, Melbourne, the state Division of Forestry and five county stations in south Brevard were on the scene by about 2:30.

The fire was turned back on itself when firefighters set counter fires west of the blaze, and firefighters said they had it under control about 5 p.m.

Hollywood Boulevard and Eber and Dairy roads remained closed to traffic most of the afternoon because smoke reduced visibility.

When flames jumped Eber Road at several spots in midafternoon, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helicopter was called in to dump water on the most threatening hot spots.

Fire officials said that if they had not contained the fire there, it would have had free rein over the partly developed land about a mile northward to the border of West Melbourne.

At the height of the blaze, rescue workers took county volunteer firefighter John Belcher to Holmes Regional Medical Center to be treated for smoke inhalation. Belcher is a Melbourne Police Department dispatcher.

A Palm Bay firefighter was overcome by smoke but later returned to the fight, and for a few minutes, a state forest ranger was lost in the blaze. His bulldozer broke down and he was forced to abandon it. Officials were preparing to search for him when he appeared on the road unharmed.

Residents of a house and members of a church at the corner of Eber and Dairy roads watered their lawns and roofs while firefighters kept track of the fire's direction.

The home and church were the only structures threatened.

Barbara Smith, 32, a Harris employee, was called to her home by her sister, who had seen smoke and driven to the scene 10 minutes after the fire began.

Smith, family members and co-workers watered the lawn and roof and removed pictures and clothing from the house in case the fire reached it.

The first wave of flame passed the house by, singing the yard and nearby pine trees. The second wave came much closer.

Treetops burst into flames along a narrow patch of woods between the house and Eber, and the group was trapped on the property for about 45 minutes while firefighters kept the trees and underbrush near the yard wet.